Agnija Reke and the Lady Cards take on New Mexico State at 8 p.m. on Tuesday

Dec. 17, 2007

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -
After a two week layoff the Lamar University women's basketball team returns to action, taking on the New Mexico State Aggies at 8 p.m. CT. at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Lamar and New Mexico State meet for the seventh time on Tuesday, with the Aggies holding a 5-1 advantage in the win column. The last time they met was in Lamar's season opener a year ago in Beaumont when the Aggies handed the Lady Cardinals a 69-52 loss at the Montagne Center.

The Lady Cardinals enter the game with a 6-3 record, on the heels of a 57-47 win over the Texas Southern Lady Tigers on December 4 at the Montagne Center.

Lamar is led in scoring by freshman Tamara Abalde, who is averaging 16 points per game along with 7.0 rebounds per game, while sophomore Brittney Williams is averaging 12.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Junior Nikki Williams is averaging 11.7 points per game and has a team-high 24 steals while senior Aida Bakhos leads the team with 7.9 rebounds per game. Junior Agnija Reke has also been solid for the Lady Cards, passing out a team-high 36 assists.

As a team the Lady Cardinals are shooting .371 from the field and have out scored their opponents 63.4 to 60. Lamar has also controlled the boards this season, out rebounding their opponents 41.2 to 37.4. New Mexico State enters the game with a 7-2 record, on the heels of a 66-61 win over Wichita State in Las Cruces on Sunday.

The Aggies are led by Anika Jawara and Sherell Neal who are averaging 12.4 points and 8.7 rebounds and 12.7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game respectively. Madison Spence has also been a force for the NMSU offense, averaging 11.4 points per game.

New Mexico State is averaging 64.8 points per game while giving up 60.2 points per contest, while out rebounding their opponents 44.9 to 40.6 this season. The Aggies have posted a team shooting percentage of .390, while allowing their opponents to shoot .344 from the field.

After Tuesday's game the Lady Cardinals will break for Christmas before heading to the Battle at the Border Tournament hosted by UT-Pan American in Edinburg, Texas on December 28th and 29th. Lamar opens the tournament against Saint Louis at 8 p.m. on the 28th, and will play either UTPA or Lafayette on the 29th.